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Morning Fix: Palin Endorses Hoffman

Former governor Sarah Palin is bucking her party's chosen candidate in a New York special election. Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Sarah Palin's decision to endorse the Conservative party candidate over the Republican nominee in a special House election in upstate New York is the latest example that the former Alaska governor's allegiance is to her conservative principles rather than the edicts of the party.

"Republicans and conservatives around the country are sending an important message to the Republican establishment in their outstanding grassroots support for Doug Hoffman: no more politics as usual," wrote Palin on her Facebook page.

She also cited former president Ronald Reagan's belief that "blurring the lines" was not the way to re-build the Republican party and added: "The Republican Party today has decided to choose a candidate who more than blurs the lines, and there is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race."

Palin is the most high profile national Republican to endorse Hoffman over state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava in the upcoming Nov. 3 special election for the seat vacated by Secretary of the Army John McHugh in a race that has rapidly developed into a battle for control of the direction of the national party.

The former Alaska governor joins former senator Fred Thompson (Tenn.) and former House majority leader Dick Armey (Texas) in Hoffman's camp. Among those who have endorsed Scozzafava are former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and former Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling.

Of his decision to back Scozzafava, Gingrich wrote Thursday: "We have to decide which business we are in. If we are in the business about feeling good about ourselves while our country gets crushed then I probably made the wrong decision."

At issue is whether national GOP leaders should make the pragmatic choice (line up behind Scozzafava because she is the party's candidate) or the pure believer choice (opt for Hoffman because, regardless of his party affiliation, his belief system hues closer to the core conservative principles.)

That divide isn't likely to go away no matter who wins in New York's 23rd in 11 days, however. The head versus heart dynamic is already shaping up in Florida's Senate primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio.

And, the debate may not end until the 2012 presidential primary fight where, if Palin runs, she could be the choice of the movement conservatives while former governor Mitt Romney (Mass.) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will likely battle it out for the establishment banner.

Daggett at 20! . . .: A new Rutgers-Eagleton poll in the New Jersey governor's race showed independent candidate Chris Daggett surging to 20 percent although he still trails Gov. Jon Corzine (D), who took 39 percent, and former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie (R) who received 36 percent. Asked who they would vote for if Daggett were not on the ballot, 37 percent of Daggett backers said they would not participate while 34 percent said they would cast a vote for Christie and 28 percent said Corzine would be their choice. Christie and the Republican Governors Association have turned their attention to Daggett in recent days, hoping to arrest his rise out of a belief that the only way Corzine can win is if Daggett polls somewhere above 15 percent of the vote. Also: A Democracy Corps (Democratic) poll put Daggett at a more earth-bound 13 percent; Corzine led Christie 42 percent to 39 percent.

. . . And Kean for Christie: Hoping to convince wayward independent voters to come back to Christie, the Republican candidate is up with a new endorsement ad featuring former New Jersey governor Tom Kean, who is still the most popular Republican elected official in the state. "I hope you're as sick and tired of all these negative commercials as I am," says Kean in a clear attempt to woo unaligned voters. He goes on to call Christie a "good and decent" man who he not only "trusts" but will vote for. While Kean's name is still the gold standard in New Jersey politics, be careful not to overestimate his influence. Kean's son -- also named Tom -- ran and lost a Senate race against Bob Menendez (D) in 2006.

Click It!: World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon (R) is putting her money where her mouth is (again) with a one-day ad buy to coincide with President Obama coming to the Constitution State to raise cash for Sen. Chris Dodd (D). In the ad, which is running statewide (including in the costly New York City media market), McMahon asks whether Dodd deserves a "pat on the back" for the work he has done in the Senate: "We've heard enough from Washington and their empty promises," says McMahon in the ad.

Van Hollen Tells Colleagues 2010 is no 1994: In an internal caucus memo obtained by the Fix, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) insisted that the comparison between the 1994 Republican wave election and the coming 2010 midterms is false."Recent predictions by Eric Cantor and Pete Sessions that they will regain the House next year are simply wrong," wrote Van Hollen. "The 2010 election is not and will not be 1994." Van Hollen's cites a number of differences including the far fewer number of Democratic retirements this cycle and the decision by his committee to go on offense in 20 seats rather than simply accept the fact that recent gains meant that 2010 was a defense-only cycle. Van Hollen also seeks to lower expectations in the memo: "History shows that we can do everything right and still lose seats," he writes.

Say What?: "Courage is in short supply in Washington, D.C." -- Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum (R) announces his support for Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R) in next year's Kansas Senate primary.

Remember when there were SANE repubicans like Chuck Hagel, who got driven out by the wingnuts?

==

The one that I saw as the pivot was a loooong time ago, one Gov. William Weld of Massachusetts IIRC .. decent moderate conservative, likable guy, ejected for not being conservative enough. Yeah the GOP won some elections since then but the trend was set and the arc has followed its trajectory, and now elected GOP officials who by any metric of 20 years ago would have been extremely conservative are not on the outs for harboring vestigial sanity.

It's not enough to be on board with all the nutty social conservative positions, to "belong" in the GOP you have to be able to recite a few qualifying whoppers without busting out laughing.

Remember when there were SANE repubicans like Chuck Hagel, who got driven out by the wingnuts?

"The Hill reports today that Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) criticized the Republican Party’s approach to the health care debate during a speech at the University of Michigan earlier this month. Hagel chided his former Republican colleagues for using the health care debate to “destroy the other party” rather than engage in thoughtful conversation; he also said that such an approach is “irresponsible”:

“If your attitude is wrong, if your intention is to use healthcare to destroy the other party, or to destroy the presidency of Barack Obama, then it’s very unlikely you’re going to find much consensus from people who want to use healthcare,” Hagel said earlier this month in a speech at the University of Michigan, video of which was only made available recently.

“As some Republican senators have said publicly — that if we kill Obama on this, and we destroy this, and we defeat his, that will drive a stake through his political heart on this administration,” the former senator, who retired at the end of his term in January, added. “I just find that about as irresponsible of a thing as I can think of.”

He was alleged to have gone on vacation with his wife (which is hard to imagine, the wife), but he said he was leaving The Fix for good, he had a fit of pique. It seems, no one liked him nor cared, in the end.

==

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I hope he stays gone and some of the better posters come back. Or new ones.

He was alleged to have gone on vacation with his wife (which is hard to imagine, the wife), but he said he was leaving The Fix for good, he had a fit of pique. It seems, no one liked him nor cared, in the end.

There was one in particular, By the floating restaurants, in capri pants and a short, toreador halter top, with tortoiseshell glasses, pushing a Krogers shopping cart that was particularly dangerous.

The first time I saw it i laughed so hard I almost fell in the Ohio River.

==

I just think it's a hoot when one of these angry teabagger trolls asserts with grim optimism that Palin is going to be president. It has such a "top this!" quality. Like a comedy act for anglers, each one telling a bigger whopper than the last.

I go away for a few days, I come back, and the #1 blog clog is refreshingly gone. What happened?

Tracking Palin is a good indicator of where the rabid Right has gotten to. Much more fun, and far more meaningful, than polls that try to track Obama by counting up the lefties who wish he were back among them, or a little to their left, and the far right, who, were Obama to attend a wedding and change water into wine would be listing such failures of judgment as: Was it an appropriate wine to go with the main course? Did he pay taxes?... and getting a total of voters against.

Where Palin Goes the real power sent her.

AND, better still, Palin and her advisers still accept the dictum that anything that keeps her name in the papers is good news. So paying attention to every ditzy thing she utters convinces her that the people fawn on her every word. When those powers that be decide she is their girl for the nomination in 2012, she gets it.

THEN the few remaining Republicans with a shred of common sense need dead albatross remover in commercial quantities.

Does anybody think she is not running in 2012? This is a positioning endorsement. No matter what happens, it puts her in good with the delusional part of the base that thinks the problem is the Republicans aren't conservative enough. If the Republican loses, then it is proof the nutcases and Palin were right.

It is far more important to be against something than for something in today's politics. Especially in primary politics.

I don't want to seem harsh, but anyone who believes that Palin will be nominated by the Republican Party in 2012, let alone actually win, probably believes in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny also. More likely she could get the nomination of some new third-party for 'pure' conservatives- maybe they could call it the Bull Moose Party.

Hey, armpeg, it ain't 1954 anymore. If you want to criticize Obama, that's your right, but calling him a Communist shows you to be just a bit out of touch.

==

Not to mention that to a generation that grew up after the Cold War and never had to Duck and Cover, calling successful policies of unimpeachable benefit "Socialist" or "Communist" won't have the intended effect.

The last of the TEA BAGGING BIRTHER Party died today. An autopsy will be performed to determine whether it was tinfoil hat poisoning, generational inbreeding,or the lack of appropriate vaccinations.
Memorial services will be held at the Real American Church of Anti-Reason, immediately after the Burn a Gay Commie for Jesus Revival.
The deceased has requested that all monetary gifts go to the Kill a Polar Bear Fund.

So Palin will go down as the person who not only handed defeat to the GOP in the 2008 race but will split the party into two. One will be the middle of the road, the other will be right wing called the TEA BAGGING BIRTHERS.

JustMike,
It's not that he's out of touch, it's that he can't think for himself, hates what he doesn't understand (which is everything outside his front door), and his memory only goes back to January 09.
Remember, 28% of Americans thought Bush was doing a bang up job at the END of his reign.
Curiously, 28% of Americans are clinically insane.
Coincidence?

Way to go Sarah!
I sent Mr. Hoffman a little donation. I'd prefer to be able to vote for Republicans, since the established, major party structure is already in place, but it's more important to elect conservatives. Hopefully, the RNC will get the message - if they don't, maybe the Conservative Party can rise up to fill the need.

"I don't think Palin would ever run for office again - she can rake in pricey appearance fees & be as inflammatory as she wants to rile up the base, without ever being held accountable to the taxpayers. No decisions to make except who will write your books & opinion speeches for you and who will manage the money you'll make."

Justmike, my teenagers (one will be voting in 2012! Yikes) say the same thing: "What's all this about Commies?" They don't feature if you're under 45. Now my old Dad, it's still 1947 with him when it comes to the Communist Threat.

As a longtime mainstream media drone who now does his journalism on the web, independent of the manipulations and machinations to which my colleagues are subject, I am of the opinion that a highly organized, partly taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign capitalizes upon an endless stream of Sarah Palins, alleged David Letterman blackmailers, and balloon boys to keep easy distracted journalists from discovering how they play the role of pawns in an insidious, undemocratic global power game.

CC and others who may be interested, please read this 2003 article. It helps explain my own ongoing campaign to open your eyes. But please note that the technology it discusses also includes familiar-looking installations, such as cell towers, that have much to do with a devious quest for control of the hearts, minds, freedom, and intellectual and financial resources of American citizens.

armpit is a good example of the angry, tragically misinformed Teabagger type, fixated on a past that never happened -- demonizing mainstream figures from way back when, like President Carter. And Saul Alinsky has become a demon to the right -- for this:

Saul Alinsky (January 30, 1909, Chicago, Illinois – June 12, 1972, Carmel, California) was a well-known community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing and has been compared to Thomas Paine as "one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left."[1]

In the course of nearly four decades of organizing the poor for social action, Alinsky made many enemies, but he has also won the respect, however grudging, of a disparate array of public figures. His organizing skills were focused on improving the living conditions of poor communities across North America.

In the 1950s, he began turning his attention to improving conditions of the African-American ghettos, beginning with Chicago's and later traveling to other ghettos in California, Michigan, New York City, and a dozen other "trouble spots."

In other words, improving the living conditions of the poor makes you an enemy of these radical 'conservatives.'

The most important number in politics today: 53%
That's Comrade Obama's job approval number by Gallup (who always oversample Democrat Socialists anyway--Rasmussen and Zogby have him at 49%).
It's the "WORST POLL RATING DROP OF ANY PRESIDENT IN THE LAST 50 YEARS".
According to Gallup: Comrade Obama entered the White House with a 78% approval rating. In April '09 he was 62%. Today he's 53%. That's a drop of 25%, a 50 year record.
The polls show that the more the American people see, and start to figure out, Barack Obama's Communist agenda, the more they don't like what they see. With the US economy and unemployment numbers getting worse and worse, caused by this incompetent Saul Alinsky--clone, by next year he'll be competing with Carter as the worst president in America's history.

"So, the GOP is now taking exclusive counsel from people who have never been in elected office or who are out of elected office.
This doesn't sound like a winning combination for gaining elected office."

Exactly, Margaret. And it's getting even sillier:

"Friends and associates are encouraging Fox News chief Roger Ailes to jump into the political arena for real by running for president in 2012, top sources tell POLITICO.

"Ailes knows how to frame an issue better than anybody, and that's what we need now," says one Ailes friend who is encouraging the Fox founder, chairman and CEO to seek the Republican nomination to run against President Barack Obama.

Talk of an Ailes run is said by informed sources to be based on more than mere speculation."

Tons of money and you know he won't be running as an R, but an independent something.

"I'm you glad you finally posted this story, CC, because this is the biggie. This is where the Republican party starts to fracture. Ron Paul was just the begining. Posted by: drindl "

The fractures have been therefor years. And the bulk of the Party won't slough off and go it on their own for no reason I can fathom. They don't seem to want to count noses and realize that the MEN who are running the party have perhaps thirty percent of the Republican Party on their side. The Conservatives deride democrats for their timidity, but it is the bulk of the republican party that hasn't the gumption to take their party back and return to reason as a political theory.

Then again, as strong a movement as the unpartied could make if THEY organized, they won't do it either.

In High Energy Physics the situation would be called an energy inversion. Lots of particles are in an elevated energy state and just waiting for the right disturbance to jar them back to rest state. The release of energy that way is usually an explosion, but properly triggered and focused it is a laser beam.

Here's what's really funny...Hard right nuts are constantly screaming that America didn't vote for Obama, they voted against Bush.
OK, so what the helluva cheese makes you think that somehow a mere four years later they would rise up and vote for...a Girl Bush?
I know Americans are fickle, but jeez...

No, vaconservative, Palin isn't stupid. She's wilfully ignorant and proud of it. She's driven by money and fame. She's still the Wasilla housewife who was thrilled to see Ivana Trump in 1996. She even adopted the trophy wife coiffure in tribute to Ivana. I thank Caribou Barbie for this endorsement. Looking forward to the Dems taking NY-23 for the first time since 1854. Then maybe the true conservatives can take back the Republican party from the Bush Bible thumpers and wingnut birther loons.

I tend to agree with your assessment of Palin this time. This is the first (and probably last) time I admire her for sticking to her beliefs and endorsing Hoffman. Of course, she may be trying to rehabilitate her 'brand' amongst Conservatives as well.

It's reassuring, however, to realise that her endorsement isn't likely to make any difference.

So, the GOP is now taking exclusive counsel from people who have never been in elected office or who are out of elected office.
This doesn't sound like a winning combination for gaining elected office.

All of the comments for "The Line" are closed, so I will make a comment here regarding the race for NM-02 for the House.

The assumption seems to be that Steve Pearce should have an easy time of winning this seat back after he gave it up to run for the Senate in 2008. The seat had been in Republican hands for decades, first with Joe Skeen and then with Pearce. I really question whether Pearce is such a shoo-in. He is a far-right conservative, for one thing. That district is conservative, but not that conservative. Also, Pearce and Harry Teague, the incumbent, share the same political base - SE NM, and specifically Lea County. The rest of the district is evenly divided, and it's this area that provides the tipping point for the Republicans. If Teague manages to neutralize this trend, as he did in 2008, he might be able to pull off a win. I agree that his vote for the "cap-and-trade" legislation was a mistake. I have friends in my home town of Artesia who are apoplectic over that legislation. It's an interesting race in an interesting election cycle.

VirginiaConservative-
I'm sure you meant to say "our" sitting vp, right?
Because as much as we'd all like to see it, Ol' Virginny ain't done seceded yet.

Seriously though, it's not just that she's an idiot, which she is. It's that if you put forty pounds on her, or thirty years, it would be "Sarah who?" in about thirty seconds. Harsh, but true.
That and the extreme rightness. See, when you make moderates sound like liberal whackjobs, and you tell city dwellers that they ain't "real America", and you pretend to be feminist while trying to set women's rights back to the 1800's, it tends to piss them off and make them not like you.
Sarah Palin will be a third party candidate in 2012, or nothing. Even GOP heavies know she would be disastrous for them as a POTUS candidate, but turning against her outright would hurt, too.
If only the Party of No hadn't made their bed with racists, militias, teabaggers and Christian fundamentalists (the Islamic fundamentalists of Christianity), they'd have some kind of rational base to fall back to.
Whoops, when those factions defect to the Bull(ets for shooting)Moose Party of Palin, that only leaves rich white boys and Michael Steele.
Oh, I almost forgot Bobby Jindal...you know, the guy who thought we were wasting our money on "...something called volcano monitoring". Curse your pork barrel spending hides, Science!

Man, the worm has definitely turned for you, the GOP. I really feel sorry for the thousands of facepalming Republicans who miss logic and reason. Too bad that went out of red state style with Eisenhower.

" I have no idea where this will end. Prominent Rs supporting a non-party choice is very significant, I think. Posted by: mark_in_austin"

It all ends when enough Wallace, Henry or George, voters die off that they can't carry the Conservatives to any more elections.

Note that Henry was anything but a conservative, and George, while he spoke fluent Conservative on the stump was mostly an FDR liberal when he wasn't courting Conservative votes.

The children of the Wallace movement(s) didn't inherit the only plank that bound their parents to the Republicans, their White Supremacist upbringing, and thus are left looking for pocketbook issues. On pocketbook issues the Republicans have done almost nothing for most of the South, whereas Johnson offered major industrialization and economic investment as part of the bargain to get the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts passed.

John Campbell, the editor of Analog, (among many) suggested that for matters of growth and development it is better to lose a war than to win it. Winners tend to keep whatever they won with, as it WAS a winning formula, and losers who look to see why they lost change to become winners.

The Republicans on the Far Right haven't yet decided that they are losing. They ignore the evidence of recent elections because to admit that they are losing puts them in a position to have to decide what to change. Being committed conservatives, change is the one thing they must be against abocve all else.

So Palins endorsement IS germain. She is burying herself in the Conservative graveyard, to emerge as their zombie in 2012. She can very well be their chosen candidate, and since there isn't a Republican thinking of running with the cojones to run as an out right centrist, she can easily be the AUH2O of 2012.

"Way to go Sarah Palin for endorsing the conservative candidate and standing on principals, rather than the party candidate."

I suppose True Palin Believers honor her by copying her tenuous grasp on the English language. Why, pray, do you applaud her for standing on school principals rather than on party candidates? Should she really be standing on anyone?

I agree with armpit -- way to go sarah! tear the R party apart! It's already happening:

What is most fascinating is the number of Republicans splitting from the furthest Right margins of the party. We see this among Teabaggers putting up ideologically pure candidates for Republican primaries to challenge "moderate" incumbents. They may well beat the party candidates in some races, but if so they will almost certainly fail in the general elections.

*More surprisingly, in Nevada the Republicans are reportedly running fourth, after Democrats, Independents, and the farther than far Right Independent American Party.*

One of the core beliefs of the IA Party, btw --"The 2nd plank of the Communist Manifesto: A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. This was implemented in the United States in 1913 by the supposed ratification of the 16th (or Income Tax) Amendment. This was foisted on a gullible American public with "soak the rich" hype."

You see, the progressive income tax is Communist and the 16th amendment was never actually ratified. You can see how popular this flat tax idea will be, once middle class taxes are raised to while the wealthy's are cut further.

Thanks for summing up Sarah's endorsement for me CC. I'm sure you picked out the few intelligible sentences, and that saved me a couple of ibuprofen.

I clicked on your link, but it told me I had to sign up for Facebook in order to continue. I refuse to sign up on a social networking website in order to keep up with political endorsements.

As for CC "hearting" Sarah, well of course he does, but not (necessarily) the way right-wingers do. Her name continues to drive web traffic, from lovers and haters alike, so anything she does will be automatically "newsworthy." Until people stop reading stories like this one.

The Crist-Rubio poll that CC has linked to shows that rubio is at about 30%. It also shows that Crist's approval ratings are at 49%, which is the first time in a long time that he's dropped below 50%.

If this division in the GOP primary gets ugly (and it seems to be headed that direction) I could see a situation where no matter who wins the primary they will be so damaged in the eyes of the loser's supporters that they end up being defeated by Meeks in the general.

Way to go Sarah Palin for endorsing the conservative candidate and standing on principals, rather than the party candidate.
Unlike the Democrat Socialist Lemmings who'll follow their Communist inspired leader Barack Obama over any and all cliffs at the snap of his fingers, in order to turn our country into a George Orwell's 1984--like government, we conservatives still believe in our Constiturion and still believe that our country is the greatest country that has ever existed. Backing a me--too Democrat Socialist--lite, who like Arlen Specter is just another RINO, is a loss for conservatism even if he wins the election.

BULLETIN: "GOING ROGUE" BY SARAH PALIN A 'RED STATE SPECIAL' -- DROPS TO $8.98 AT WALMART, $8.99 AT TARGET!

Look for it soon at your nearest 99-cent store...

(Source: WCBS-AM, New York)

***

ATTENTION A.G. HOLDER/POTUS/VPOTUS:

Where is the DOJ Civil Rights Division investigation into the covert use of silent, harmful microwave and laser directed energy weapons systems on unjustly targeted Americans and their families by a Bush-legacy federal-local "multi-agency coordinated action program" that continues to commit civil and human rights violations under Team Obama -- including government-enabled, warrantless GPS-activated, covert "community stalking" harassment, surreptitious home entries, and terrorism?

Palin is anything but conservative. The Republican brand has so screwed up political labelling that even true conservatives have no clue what they are. It is also time to remove "Palin" from the news and the lexicon.

"Glenn Beck escalated his feud with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on his Fox News show today. Recall, Graham has previously dismissed Beck as an entertainer who is “aligned with cynicism.” “Only in America can you make that much money crying,” Graham said of Beck. When Beck responded by saying Graham’s criticism was the “highest honor” he’s ever received, Graham reiterated his view that Beck “doesn’t represent the Republican Party.”

Today, Beck opened his show with a diatribe against Graham. Castigating the South Carolina Republican for saying that “we’re not going to be a party of angry white guys,” Beck retorted, “You gotta ask yourself, is the problem the angry white guys or is it the Obama-like guys?” “

**Beck also noted Arlen Specter, Tim Pawlenty, and John McCain as “Obama-lite” politicians that conservatives should reject.**

However unfair it is to the lady they chose to run for the seat, the Republicans have effectively ceded the seat in upstate New York to the Democrats. They will have to lick their wounds, figure out where they went wrong, and give it another shot in 2010. By then, Mr. Owens will be established in the seat, and the Repubs may find it is gone forever. Is a day coming soon when there will be no Republicans in Congress from New York?

As for ms. palin's endorsement, it will work against Mr. Hoffman. He didn't have much of a chance before, and he now has no chance whatsoever. ms. palin is the kiss of death. She certainly was for John McCain. He might have been competitive had he chosen someone who was actually qualified to be VP. When he chose her, it was over. That was the end of it. It's hard for me to fathom how intelligent people could have voted for him with her on the ticket.

She has no future at all in politics, having shown herself, by her resignation from the office of Governor of Alaska, to be utterly immature and unreliable. She is irrelevant to the future of this country. I hope she will soon figure this out and withdraw from the national scene. She's done enough damage to her party already. Not that I think damage to the Republicans is a bad thing. From the Democratic Party standpoint, she's definitely the gift that keeps on giving!

"The new Research 2000 poll of the NY-23 special election finds Democratic candidate Bill Owens narrowly leading Republican Dede Scozzafava -- and Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate who has excited a revolt against the GOP establishment from the whole national right wing, in third.

The numbers: Owens 35%, Scozzafava 30%, and Hoffman 23%"

Hmm, wonder why CC didn't mention this? The single most important piece of this story is that the far-right candidate's entry into this race likely means the Dem will win what would otherwise have been a probable slam dunk for the incumbent.

Excellent strategy! Divide and conquer! Maybe Fox is actually run by Dems....

I'm you glad you finally posted this story, CC, because this is the biggie. This is where the Republican party starts to fracture. There are now so many litmus tests in the 'conservative movement' --and constantly increasing -- that is becoming impossible for any elected Rs to represent their constituents, because of the ideological shackles.

One 'wrong' vote -- no matter how right for your district -- and you've got an expensive and nasty primary challenge from the right and gain instant RINO status, no matter how 'conservative' you've been before.

I hear so much talk of a far-right 3rd party that I think it has to happen--and it will siphon a lot of support off the Rs, although eventually it will fail, because it will simply be too extreme for most Americans.

Palinphilia seems to be the word of the day today. I think it's a bit of a misnomer- guys like CC don't keep writing about her because they love her, but they love writing about her because her sheer wackiness always makes for entertaining copy. Things were getting boring for a while after the Great Dropout; now that she's back, and especially with her 'book' about to appear, let the fun begin!

Clearly Daggett has had an up-tick in his campaign funding because he is now running radio ads -- excellent radio ads. They are very simple -- just his voice in a firm, quick read: Corzine is part of the problem, Chritie only looks backwards, I'm the one who is leveling with you, don't let anyone tell you you are wasting your vote if you go with an Independent.

Upstate NY IS a Haven for the "Grassroots Gestapo"... but a Rabid 20 Per cent Can't Win Elections (Unless Its Operatives Rig Electronic Voting...)

PALINPHILIA:

An analytical dysfunction among otherwise rational mainstream media journalists, characterized by an obsessive and laudatory preoccupation with Sarah Palin that appears to be unwarranted by current events or political trends.

***

GRASSROOTS GESTAPO SEIZES POLITICAL POWER BY VIOLATING CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Is THIS how the extreme right seeks to retake political and social control of America -- via a "Grassroots Gestapo" enabled by powerful reactionary forces in federal and local government agencies and commands...

I don't want to seem harsh, but anyone who believes that Palin will be nominated by the Republican Party in 2012, let alone actually win, probably believes in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny also. More likely she could get the nomination of some new third-party for 'pure' conservatives- maybe they could call it the Bull Moose Party.

Katem,
Michael Steele is part of this problem for the GOP. He came out earlier this year and said that Rush Limbaugh was wrong to want the president to fail, and that we should all hope that America succeeds. Then Limbaugh called him a coward and he back-tracked faster than I thought was imaginable. Ever since then he has allowed the more extreme elements hijack the GOP and has encouraged it in many cases by not flatly calling the crazies crazy.
There is a reason that Ralph Nader always gets 2-3% of the vote every year. Its because the Democratic party will not sacrifice the centrists in their party for the firnge left.

FGH1-
Ding ding ding ding! You win the "Pointing out Conservative Hypocrisy" Award.
Unfortunately the backlog of awards is so long it will be 2011 before we can get yours to you.
Thank you for your participation.

andyR3, great post, and isn't it kinda scary how the only "pure" conservatives mentioned are white? and not in elected office right now? I wonder how Steele feels about this 'pure' conservative crap? probably the same as he feels about inane supposedly subtle comments like "...the magic Norwegian..." when refering to the president.

Newt is brilliant but he has the DC disease and he just can't shake it. The answer to his question is that we are in the public policy business, which means we need consensus on those public policies. And while I support the right to choose option for abortion...the hot button in this race, I would never vote for Scozzafava because her other public policy views are totally outside the mainstream and are in fact Obama like leftist policies. And Sarah Palin will get the GOP nomination in 2012, she will carry NY state on her way to winning the Whitehouse. Obama has totally revealed himself as an Israel basher as a person in the pocket of the Islamists and the big money interests like GE and Goldman Sachs, who you will note are not have their execs pay cut. Obama will be back in Chicago in 2013, maybe the new mayor there soon after.

Mark,
The analogy with the Dixiecrats I think is a very good one and if Nixon hadn't totally screwed the GOP with Watergate then I think the Democrats would have been on the outside looking in for a very long time.
The difference with then and now is that politics was controlled with an iron grip by Unions, farmers, and buisnesses. Not to mention local party bosses and the old political guard. So there was only so far that the parties could disinigrate due to the powers that controlled them. However, now the parties are bascially like minded mobs that are much more difficult to control.

Taken with the possibility of a radical change in campaign finance depending on what the Supreme Court decides on the Clinton case, we could something major happen like a splinter of the GOP into two parties.

Hard truth: McCain did not lose the election because he was too moderate. He made what otherwise would have been an aizwhoopin' into a respectable whoopin'.
If the GOP fields a harder right guy (or dear Lord please a girl from Alaska) in '12, the smoking they get should kill any notion that the GOP represents America. The third party democracy will be ripe for the happening.
You are in the vast minority, teabaggers. No matter what you tell yourself, THAT is the truth. And for all your blabber about your freedoms, YOU are the ones who threaten liberty in America the most.
You see, you can't claim to stand for freedom when your version of it excludes gays, non-whites, non-Christians, Teachers, Pro-choicers (notice the word choice, as in "freedom" of?), dope smokers, sick people, hippies, scientists, diplomats, et. al.

You stand for repressive, Bible-thumping theocracy. And everybody knows it.

Good luck with that in 2012. It's time for that nail to get pounded down.

CC, I said months ago that this race was going to be a bell-weather for the GOP's future, and it turns out that I was right (and it ain't looking good either).

I guess Palin didn't see or read the interview that you posted yesterday from the Watertown Daily Times. They took him to task for not having opinions about anything of importance to the people of the district. In addition the paper had this quote
"One of the candidates, Mr. Hoffman, does not even live in the district. Mr. Hoffman will not be able to vote for himself and his wife won't see her husband's name on the ballot."

There are some complicated issues in Northern NY such as how you deal with half of your district being part of the Adirondack Park, what to do with the St Lawrence Seaway(the 2nd most important waterway in America), one of the largest and buisiest borders in the country, the increased drug and gun trade through Indian reservations that span the Canadian border, etc. And it seems that Hoffman has no plan to address any of these issues.

But I guess to the simpletons like Palin its more important that Hoffman is Pro-life, pro-gun, and anti-gay than that he actually knows anything about the region's political issues or actually live there, like Owens or Scozzafava.

I am trying to compare this to the other party divisions I recall. 1948: Dixiecrats and [Henry] Wallace Left split from Ds; for two different reasons. The rift heals, but the Ds are weakened.

1968: George Wallace leads Dixiecrats out of D Party and picks up disaffected persons in both parties fearful of the civil rights movement outside the south. Moved the Ds reflexively left and the Rs, at first, to the center, on most issues. The rift does not heal, the George Wallace voters become Rs, and Rs begin the move toward accepting racially and ethnically and religiously divisive politics.

From that turn of events, blacks became 90% D voters, and Hispanics leaned to the Ds, about 2-1. Ds became apparently a party for non-whites and Rs a party for whites. Ds won national office only twice between 1976 and 2007 - when they ran a southern white man.
Then Ds win with a candidate of mixed race, and the Rs, where all the George Wallace voters roosted, begin to unravel between ordinary pocketbook voters and those still driven by ethnicity, religion, and race. Or so it seems. I have no idea where this will end. Prominent Rs supporting a non-party choice is very significant, I think.

True Conservatives will have to be very patient. The tipping point will come when enough Americans that have lost jobs, homes etc., realize that they, in fact, had it pretty good, in spite of the fact that there always have been and always will be people that have more than them.

Gingrich got it mostly right - Republicans seem to want to be in the business of feeling good about themselves while their PARTY gets crushed. But Chris, the issue is not that lining up behind candidates like Scozzafava is pragmatic because she's the party's candidate, it's pragmatic because as a (more or less) moderate Republican, she might have, before this brouhaha, actually gotten elected. Doing their best to lose elections is NOT pragmatic, nor does it help push the conservative agenda forward. (And that's fine by me.)

Who knows, maybe Owens and Scozzafava will split the non-right-wing vote and Hoffman will squeak in but I don't see electing Hoffman-like candidates as a trend in the northeast. And delusions aside, Sarah Palin couldn't carry NY - even upstate - in 2012.

Note to Gingrich: It is not the country that is getting crushed, only conservatives. Since the majority elects the government, if you can't accept that, you are not fighting for the US, but against it. Think about it.